Aug 10, 2012
Reviews Are In: House Republicans Are Failing America’s Farmers
Editorial Boards across the country are calling out House Republicans for going on a five week taxpayer funded vacation instead of moving forward on a Farm Bill.
Take a look for yourself.
House Republicans stonewall farm bill [Star Tribune]
“Month after month, House Republicans promised to save taxpayers millions by cutting wasteful subsidies paid to farmers -- whether or not they needed the money or even planted a crop. Instead of living up to their word, they’re taking a five-week recess without considering the farm bill adopted by the House Agriculture Committee in mid-July. […] House Republicans haven’t made the bill a priority. […] They’re also unwilling to compromise with Democrats to bring about the long-term policy reforms that a new farm bill needs. […] The fault for the farm bill mess to date lies squarely on the shoulders of House Republicans, who are so badly divided that they’ve stonewalled legislation America needs. We’ve seen this dysfunction in the House before -- with the payroll tax credit extension, as well as with last year’s budget battle.” [Star Tribune, 8/7/12]
Drought foils vacation plans for farmers … but not for Congress [Quad City Times]
“Congress surrendered to partisan squabbling again, leaving Washington for a month long recess without addressing the problem that has desperate Quad-City ag producers lining up at Farm Service Agency offices. Staff in those offices won’t be taking August off. […] Apparently, canceling a planned vacation wasn’t an option for the House. Congressmen return home to campaign and commiserate with constituents about partisan gridlock. When they visit their ag communities, they won’t find anyone on vacation. […] These questions, and many more, depend entirely on the actions of House members sent on vacation by leadership at a time when American farmers need them most.” [Quad City Times, 8/5/12]
Stalling on farm bill during drought is irresponsible [Scottsbluff Star-Herald]
“The five-year, $500 billion farm and nutrition bill still hasn’t come up for a vote. […] GOP conservatives don’t like the high cost of the bill and the federal subsidies going to farmers, while Democrats are unhappy with proposed cuts to the food stamp program. The differences between the House and Senate versions will need to be reconciled before it can become law. But GOP leaders have been more interested in political grandstanding. […] Running out the clock in the midst of an unfolding disaster takes an appalling gamble with the lives of the nation’s food producers. Farmers live by the turn of the seasons, not some political calendar, and they can’t kick their problems down the road. […] While farmers make up only a small fraction of the nation’s voters, we all have to eat.” [Scottsbluff Star Herald, 7/27/12]
Waiting on rain, Congress [News Press]
“Farmers have an eye to the sky watching for rain because only an opening of the heavens will assuage the unrelenting drought. State and federal governments are trying to provide relief, but like showers in this season, the results are spotty. […] It will be a long, dry recess in farm country as Congress also has failed to approve a new Farm Bill. It’s a shame drought-stressed farm families and food consumers have become tokens in political posturing. Let’s not stop praying for a drenching downpour.” [News Press, 8/5/12]
Farm bill needs House vote [Dallas Morning News]
“What, precisely, John Boehner is thinking, we don’t know. But we do have a message from the heartland for the Republican speaker of the House: His actions, which are delaying the House’s consideration of the farm bill, are an example of why Americans want to throw both parties out of power. […] The speaker is playing politics. Shame on him, especially since he recently acknowledged that many farmers and ranchers are currently gutting it out because of merciless droughts.” [Dallas Morning News, 7/25/12]
Congress gives itself much-needed break from its inactivity [Evansville Courier Press]
“After seven months of short work weeks and near-zero accomplishments, Congress has awarded itself a five-week vacation, deferring a series of tough legislative decisions until the members return after Labor Day, presumably tanned, rested and ready to go. […] The House leadership threw together a $383 million short-term package of loans and grants, but the Senate, noting that it had passed a full five-year reauthorization of the farm bill in June that the House ignored, refused to act […] there’s plenty for Congress to do when it gets back in September. It has scheduled itself to work eight days that month.” [Evansville Courier Press, 8/7/12]
Congress might do some work in November [Roanoke Times]
“With only 13 work days scheduled before Election Day, national problems will linger for use on the campaign trail. August recess is a congressional tradition that arose from hot, swampy D.C. summers of yore. Air conditioning obviates the temperature and humidity concerns, but lawmakers still head home for a month to recharge. Americans might forgive that break, but when Congress returns to work after Labor Day, the people expect lawmakers to accomplish something. The way things are shaping up, this fall will be even worse than most when it comes to passing laws and dealing with the challenges facing the nation. Let's run down part of Congress’ to-do list: Pass a farm bill that renews Department of Agriculture nutrition and conservation programs as well as provides farm subsidies. […] Virginians who happen to bump into lawmakers campaigning this month should ask them why they are not putting more time into the real work of the nation.” [Roanoke Times, 8/9/12]
Feckless lawmakers take undeserved break [Times Record News]
“If we skipped town for a month-long vacation with as much unfinished business as Congress, we wouldn't keep our jobs for long. Why do they keep their jobs? In fact, members of Congress departed Washington for the five-week summer recess and, in a sense, to campaign to keep their jobs. In their wake, a stack of unfinished legislation, not the least of which an answer to America's farmers and ranchers who continue to suffer the effects of drought and frost. Emergency aid for ranchers and farmers was left on the table. Each side of the aisle blames the other, but the finger-pointing gives little relief to our own Texas ranchers and farmers.” [Times Record News, 8/6/12]
Farm Bill ought to be a priority [Lacrosse Tribune]
“The 2012 drought is nature’s reminder that farming will always be a risky business, especially when politics are involved. […] Traditionally Republicans and Democrats who represent farming states put aside their party designations when it comes to voting for the farm bill, a five-year measure that funds and sets national agriculture policy. But as evidence that there is no party unity on this issue, the House farm bill has not been brought to the floor. […] We need farmers to grow crops to feed our country, and clearly we need to provide some relief to livestock farmers. But the impact of the drought won’t go away while Congress is on recess.” [Lacrosse Tribune, 8/5/12]
House should act on farm bill before beginning summer recess [Fresno Bee]
“With just days before they head home for a five-week summer recess, members of the U.S. House have yet to act on the expiring 2008-2012 Farm Bill. House Republican leaders have scheduled no date to bring this farm bill to the floor, though the Sept. 30 expiration looms. […] As the House dithers, the nation is in the middle of the worst drought in nearly 70 years -- and disaster relief programs in the 2008-2012 Farm Bill already have expired. […] House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, suggested July 23 that the House will hold no floor votes on the farm bill until later in the year. That’s irresponsible. If the bill expires, the nation reverts to obsolete 1949 policies for food and agriculture.” [Fresno Bee, 7/27/12]
Drought and the Farm Bills [New York Times]
“By every measure, America is experiencing the worst drought since the Eisenhower era. Nearly a third of the counties in the United States have been declared disaster areas. […] According to the United States Drought Monitor, nearly 90 percent of the corn and soybeans on American farms have been damaged or destroyed. […] Against this dire backdrop, the House of Representatives, with time running out before the August recess, appears to have abandoned any attempt to move forward with its version of a new five-year farm bill. As Politico reported, the House has never before failed to act in a timely way on a farm bill approved by the Agriculture Committee.” [New York Times, 7/24/12]
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